Spiritual Forum

The High "eee" Sound
Within the quantum level of consciousness there originates a vibration, a steady vibration, that can be heard with the inner ear as a high-pitched "eeeee," as if a thousand vinas were playing, as if all the nerve currents in the astral body, physical body and the body of the soul were singing in harmony. It is a divine combination of the ida and pingala tones blended together in the sushumna. Each lineage of gurus has embedded within the psyche of tradition a certain combination of sounds, and that listening to this mystic sound holds all devotees close to their satguru and all those who preceded him. It is also said that when one is in another birth, the sound is the same, and this will eventually lead the aspirant back to his spiritual lineage. Listening to the nada, as it is called in Sanskrit, or nada-nadi shakti, brings the threshold of bliss and shows that the balance of all karmas has been attained. Listening to the nada and tracing it into its source carries the seeker's awareness to the brink of the Absolute. There are today mystical orders that do nothing but listen to the nada while looking at and enjoying the darshan of their guru's picture. Many sincere seekers wonder why they cannot hear "eeeeee," the nada, during their meditation, whereas others not only hear it during meditation but during the day when talking, shopping or just meandering through the garden. This is to say, it is there when awareness enters that area of the mind. The mind has to be made empty. That means resolving all unresolved conflicts within the subconscious. The striving to hear the nada will bring up unresolved issues. They may plague the conscious mind until resolved. At first you might disregard them and feel they will go away as abruptly as they came. But later, when they persist, and the major one is deception--yes, we can even deceive ourselves--we are inwardly forced to face up to, admit our secrets and make amends. When deception goes, the nada comes. When the subconscious is heavy, the nada and the brilliant colors it radiates fade. Failure on the path puts the nada out of range of the inner ear of the soul. The mystical nada, it's a medley of sounds, and each sound which is there has a color, but may be covered, as is the light of the mind of the soul, the clear white light. It is covered, but not permanently. Admittance of the mistakes, the experience of repentance and the performance of penance, called prayashchitta, lay the foundation for a reconciliation that will release the force of lower nature into the higher and uncloud the veil that hid the inner light, that hid the nada--that incomprehensible high-pitched "eee," sounding within the head, that incomparable source of inner security, contentment and outpouring of love. When you hear the nada, endeavor to project it in love's outpouring to all those who are in your orbit of communication. They will feel the blessings when your divine love is projected through your nada into their nada. This is the height of selfless consciousness, universal love, a constant mystically outpouring and experience of oneness. The sushumna is nada and more. Nada shakti is. It just is.

Kundalini, the Spiritual Force
Hatha yoga (ha-pingala and tha-ida) balances the two forces, the ida and the pingala. The straight, erect spine releases the actinodic flow of the sushumna current. The mind centered in the contemplative atmosphere, cognizing timelessness, causelessness, spacelessness while sitting in the lotus position, awakens the pineal and pituitary centers, and the door of Brahman at the top of the head. The force of the actinodic causal body, the sheath of cognition, vijnanamaya kosha, a pure actinic force running through the sushumna current, is called the kundalini. As this kundalini force becomes activated, the sushumna power begins to grow, or the actinodic causal body begins to grow, and the higher chakras of cognition and universal love begin to spin faster. Once kundalini power has been activated, its force expands or contracts consciousness. As man's consciousness expands into actinic spheres, more kundalini power is used. This power is lessened as his consciousness emerges into the limited fields of the odic world. Often known as the serpent power, the kundalini is coiled at the base of the spine in the instinctive man who resides mostly in the force fields of memory and fear. When this power becomes uncoiled, the serpent, or kundalini, luminously raises its head, and finally, after nirvikalpa samadhi, it lifts its power to the top of the head. When nirvikalpa samadhi has been practiced daily for many, many years--according to the classical yoga teachings, for twelve years--and the golden body has been built, the kundalini force coils itself in the sahasrara chakra of the yogi, at the top of the head. This is known as the manas chakra, located about where the hairline begins at the forehead. This chakra eventually becomes the muladhara chakra, or the memory-pattern chakra, of the golden body. The manas chakra is fully activated when the golden body is fully unfolded. This is known in Hindu and Egyptian mystic schools as the golden body of light, for it registers in the minds of those who look upon it, to their soul body, as a golden ball of light or a golden body. When the kundalini rises into the realms of pure actinicity, the pineal gland and pituitary center are activated. When these two centers are activated simultaneously, the forces of both of them merge, bringing man into nirvikalpa samadhi. Therefore, the aggressive odic force merges with the passive odic force, in perfect balance, and the actinodic power of the sushumna current comes into perfect balance, poised with the kundalini force. The yoga adept finds himself on the brink of the Absolute, cognizing That which he cannot explain, knowing there is something beyond which the mind does not know, conceiving That which cannot be conceived, because form, which is mind, cannot conceive formlessness. Then the yogi touches into the Self and becomes a knower of the Self, merges with Siva. When the ida, pingala and sushumna forces merge and reside in perfect balance, the third eye awakens. When the pituitary, pineal glands and the sushumna source are in perfect balance, man is able to perceive consciously into other worlds of the mind. The golden body, as it begins to grow after the renunciate, or sannyasin, attains nirvikalpa samadhi, is built by man's service to his fellow man.

The Way After Realization
When a yoga guru brings others from darkness into light and from light into Self Realization, he is also strengthening his own golden body. When a satguru makes it easy for his sannyasins to remain in the practice of Self Realization, encouraging them and demanding of them the practice of nirvikalpa samadhi, he helps them hold their forces in check through the power of his golden body. After nirvikalpa samadhi, the sannyasin has a choice to serve mankind or to wait for mankind to unfold into the consciousness that he has attained. This is called being a bodhisattva or upadeshi, one who serves, or an arahat or nirvani, one who waits. The golden body begins to grow through service and by bringing others into enlightenment as a bodhisattva, or through the constant practice of nirvikalpa samadhi while living a strictly secluded life as an arahat, only mixing with those of his own level of realization. The sahasrara chakra at the top of the head and the ajna chakra at the brow, or the third eye, are the two controlling force centers of the soul body. These force centers become the two lowest chakras of the yoga master's new golden body, svarnasharira, as this body begins to build after his first nirvikalpa samadhi. The usual experience before nirvikalpa samadhi is for the aspirant to become a knower of the Self. This could occur at any time during his training. In order to attain this experience of "touching into the Self," he must have a complete balance of all odic and actinic forces within him. A noted change in his life pattern often occurs after he becomes a knower of the Self, for the soul body has become released into orbit, and he has then a subsuperconscious control of this body. In other words, the odic-force tie has been released. This body has quickly matured. Then, if practicing contemplation as prescribed by his satguru and finally working out the various karmic binds or holds in the lower odic force field with the help of the guru, he attains complete Self Realization, or nirvikalpa samadhi. Then the golden body, svarnasharira, is born through the merging of the forces of the pituitary and the pineal gland, setting the sahasrara into a constant spinning motion. This constant spinning motion generates the force which propels the yoga adept back into nirvikalpa samadhi. Each time he goes into nirvikalpa samadhi he intensifies a little the spinning movement of this chakra, unfolding it a little more, and as this occurs, the golden body begins to build. When the yoga adept touches into the Self and becomes a knower of the Self, attains nirvikalpa samadhi, becomes Self Realized, yoga powers come to him. These yoga powers are often renounced, depending upon the rule of the order to which he belongs, whether it be a teaching order or an order of hermits. According to the need, a power is developed. The powers that a yogi can use are as many as the petals within the sahasrara chakra. They are 1,008. These powers are conceived through the nadis--small, elastic-like psychic nerve currents extending out into and through the aura of the body. The nadis work in conjunction with the chakras, and with the major currents of the body, ida, pingala and sushumna. Remember, when the kundalini force becomes strong within you during a meditation, just sit and be aware that you are aware, a blissful state called kaef in Shum, the language of meditation. You will feel very positive and experience yourself as a great, big ball of energy. When the energy begins to wane, try to absorb it into every cell of your external body, then continue your meditation exactly where you left off. In this way you will build a strong, disciplined nerve system and subconscious mind. This will lead you naturally onto the next inner plateau, then to the next and the next. Never allow yourself to be complacent in your spiritual attainments. Always continue to strive. Even rishis, swamis and yogis who have totally realized Parasiva continue to work on themselves from within themselves. They don't let down, because if they did it would be many years before they had the next experience of the timelessness, formlessness, spacelessness of the unspeakable Parasiva experience. The message, therefore, is, at the beginning of meditation and at the end, keep striving. Don't turn back, but proceed with confidence.

Divine Sight And Illumination
The sixth force center is ajna, or the third eye. Ajna chakra means "command center" and grants direct experience of the Divine, not through any knowledge passed on by others, which would be like the knowledge found in books. Magnetized to the cavernous plexus and to the pineal gland and located between the brows, the ajna chakra governs the superconscious faculties of divine sight within man. Its color is lavender. Of its two "petals" or facets one is the ability to look down, all the way down, to the seven talas, or states of mind, below the muladhara and the other is the ability to perceive the higher, spiritual states of consciousness, all the way up to the seven chakras above the sahasrara. Thus, ajna looks into both worlds: the odic astral world, or Antarloka, and the actinic spiritual world, or Sivaloka. It, therefore, is the connecting link, allowing the jnani to relate the highest consciousness to the lowest in a unified vision. This center opens fully to the conscious use of man after many experiences of nirvikalpa samadhi, Self Realization, resulting in total transformation, have been attained, although visionary insights and, particularly, inner light experiences are possible earlier. The composition of this chakra is so refined, being primarily of actinic force, that a conscious knowledge of the soul as a scintillating body of pure energy or white light is its constant manifestation. From here man peers deeply into the mind substance, seeing simultaneously into the past, the present and the future--deeper into evolutionary phases of creation, preservation and destruction. He is able to travel consciously in his inner body, to enter any region of the mind without barrier and to reduce through his samyama, contemplation, all form to its constituent parts. It is not recommended on the classical Hindu yoga path for one to sit and concentrate on this force center, as the psychic abilities of the pineal gland can be prematurely awakened over which control is not possible, creating an unnecessary karmic sidetrack for the aspirant. Visions are not to be sought. They themselves are merely illusions of a higher nature around which a spiritual ego can grow which only serves to inhibit the final step on the path, that of the Truth beyond all form, beyond the mind itself. Therefore, the pituitary gland, which controls the next and final center, should be awakened first. This master gland is located about an inch forward and upward of the left ear, near the center of the cranium. At that point one can inwardly focus awareness and see a clear white light. This light is the best point of concentration, for it will lead awareness within itself and to the ultimate goal without undue ramification. The sahasrara, or crown chakra, is the "thousand spoked" wheel, also known as sahasradala padma, "thousand-petaled lotus." Actually, according to the ancient mystics, it has 1,008 aspects or attributes of the soul body. However, these personae are transparent--a crystal clear white light, ever present, shining through the circumference of the golden body which is polarized here and which seems to build and grow after many experiences of sustained nirvikalpa samadhi, manifesting a total inner and outer transformation. The crown center is the accumulation of all other force centers in the body, as well as the controlling or balancing aspect of all other sheaths or aspects of man. It is a world within a world within itself. When the yogi travels in high states of contemplation, when he is propelled into vast inner space, he is simply aware of this center in himself. In such deep states, even the experience of light would not necessarily be seen, since light is only present when a residue of darkness is kept, or since light is the friction of pure actinic force meeting and penetrating the magnetic forces. In the sahasrara, the jnani dissolves even blissful visions of light and is immersed in pure space, pure awareness, pure being. Once this pure state is stabilized, awareness itself dissolves and only the Self remains. This experience is described in many ways: as the death of the ego; as the awareness leaving the mind form through the "door of Brahman," the brahmarandhra, at the top of the head; and as the inexplicable merger of the atman, or soul, with Siva, or God. From another perspective, it is the merger of the forces of the pituitary with the forces of the pineal. Great inner striving, great sadhana and tapas, first activate the pituitary gland--a small, master gland found near the hypothalamus which regulates many human functions, including growth, sexuality and endocrine secretions. It is inwardly seen as a small white light and referred to as "the pearl of great price." When the pituitary is fully activated, it begins to stimulate the pineal gland, situated at the roof of the thalamic region of the brain and influencing maturation of consciousness expansion. The pineal is inwardly viewed as a beautiful blue sapphire. For man to attain his final, final, final realization, the forces of these two glands have to merge. Symbolically, this is the completion of the circle, the serpent devouring its own tail. For those who have attained this process, it can be observed quite closely through the faculty of divine sight.

Ida, Pingala And Sushumna
In mystic cosmology, the seven lokas, or upper worlds, correspond to the seven higher chakras. The seven talas, or lower worlds, correspond to the chakras below the base of the spine. Man is thus a microcosm of the universe, or macrocosm. The spine is the axis of his being, as Mount Meru is the axis of the world, and the fourteen chakras are portals into the fourteen worlds, or regions of consciousness. The actinodic life force within the sushumna current runs up and down the spine and becomes very powerful when the ida and pingala, or the odic forces, are balanced. Then man becomes completely actinodic. He doesn't feel, in a sense, that he has a body at that particular time. He feels he is just a being suspended in space, and during those times his anahata and vishuddha chakras are spinning and vibrating. When, through the practice of very intense, sustained states of contemplation, he merges into pure states of superconsciousness, the ida and the pingala form a circle. They meet, and the pituitary and the pineal glands at the top of the head also merge their energies. This produces deep samadhi. The pituitary gland awakens first and through its action stimulates the pineal. The pineal shoots a spark into the pituitary, and the door of Brahman, the Bramarandhra, is opened, never to close. I once saw the sahasrara on a long stem above my head when I was in New York in 1953 or '54. The sushumna force also merges, and the kundalini, which is at this time playing up and down the spine like a thermometer, as the fire-heat body of man, rises to the top of the head, and man then goes beyond consciousness and becomes the Self and has his total Self Realization, nirvikalpa samadhi. The ida nadi is pink in color. It flows down, is predominantly on the left side of the body and is feminine-passive in nature. The pingala nadi is blue in color. It flows up, is predominantly on the right side of the body and is masculine-aggressive in nature. These nerve currents are psychic tubes, shall we say, through which prana flows from the central source, Siva. The prana is flowing down through the ida and up through the pingala, but in a figure eight. The sushumna nadi is in a straight line from the base of the spine to the top of the head. The ida and pingala spiral around the sushumna and cross at the third chakra, the manipura, and at the fifth chakra, the vishuddha, and meet at the sahasrara. This means that there is a greater balance of the ida and the pingala in man's will center, or manipura chakra, and in his universal love center, or vishuddha chakra, and of course at the great sanga center, the meeting place of the three rivers, the sahasrara chakra. The sushumna nadi, flowing upward, is the channel for the kundalini shakti, which is white. It is the cool energy, as white contains all colors. When this happens, and it happens almost imperceptibly under the guru's watchful eye, consciousness slowly expands. The novice only knows of the subtle yet powerful spiritual unfoldment when looking back from the time the practices were begun. Now he sees how life was then and how now his soul's humility has overtaken the external ego. Through breathing exercises, meditation and the practice of hatha yoga, the ida and the pingala, or the aggressive and passive odic forces, are balanced. When they are balanced, the chakras spin all at the same velocity. When the chakras spin at the same velocity, they no longer bind awareness to the odic world; man's awareness then is automatically released, and he becomes conscious of the actinodic and actinic worlds. Those chakras at the crossing of the ida and pingala are the more physical of the chakras, whereas those it skips are energized by the sushumna itself. When the yogi is really centered within, the ida and pingala then blend together in a straight line and merge into the sushumna, energizing all seven chakras, and in the older soul, slowly, very slowly, slowly, begin to energize the seven chakras above the sahasrara. When this happens, he no longer thinks but sees and observes from the ajna chakra between the eyes. He is totally consciously alive, or superconscious. It is only when his ida and pingala begin functioning normally again that he then begins to think about what he saw.

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Depiction of the Ajna or "forehead Chakra" of later Hindu Tantras shows a two-petaled lotus containing a circle, a triangle, the syllable "OM," and a Lingam, symbolizing the pineal gland. Let the Yogi contemplate the inner moon, located in the Head Chakra. Let him visualize the nectar containing moon and then learn to drink the nectar flowing from it. By this practice the Drops of Wisdom are absorbed and Liberation is quickly attained. SHIVA SAMHITA

Drops of Wisdom Because of the predominance of these two forces in the heavens, solar and lunar forces pervade all metaphysical treatises. When an awareness of the relationship between inner and outer, the microcosm and macrocosm, developed in man, it was natural to identify this relationship with solar and lunar forces. The solar forces reside in the navel center and are visualized as a lotus with sixty-four petals, or as a blazing sun with sixty-four flames, each of which has a particular function and characteristic. These "solar flares"are referred to as the transforming power of the psyche. The innermoon is located in the Head Chakra. It is visualized as a lotus with thirty two petals, or as effulgent rays emanating downward. The downward-pointing "innermoon" showers subtle secretions or "Soma drops," which nourish the psycho-organism. Tantric texts refer to these secretions as Drops of Wisdom, emphasizing that a Yogi should endeavor to prevent them from being "burnt up by the inner sun." The Shaktis or Dakinis and represent Gheranda Samhita, for example, states: "The sun dwells at the root of the navel, and the moon at the root of the palate. As the sun eats up the nectar secreted by the moon, humans become subject to death. "The concept of Drops of Wisdom can be understood as involving several different stages, from the purely physical to the subtle biological and finally the mystical. The first stage refers to the profuse secretions of saliva that accompany physical desire; food and sex are the two main agents that cause salivation. When food is eaten, it mixes with the saliva, which aids mastication, and is passed to the stomach for digestion. In the stomach the saliva helps the process of digestion and is itself assimilated by the action of the gastric juices, the "digestive fire. "The second stage, the subtle biological state, is linked to the action of two glands, the pituitary and the pineal. Yogic texts that speak of the "melting of the inner moon"and the "opening of the Third Eye" are undoubtedly referring to the biophysical processes that occur in these two glands when consciousness is focused in the head center. It is interesting that Tantric descriptions of other psychic centers within the head center closely correspond to the physical structures of these two glands. The pituitary gland is divided into two parts and is located in the middle of the brain ( "above the palate," in the Yogic texts). It has an oval form and two lobes, and produces hormones that regulate sperm production, testosterone levels, ovulation, uterine contractions, secretion of breast milk and urine, and bodily growth. In addition, the pituitary governs and stimulates the thyroid gland (which controls metabolism, growth,and development) and the adrenal glands (which control digestion, blood pressure, pulse rate, and other vital functions). Hormones, which are produced by the glands, are biochemical "messengers" that enter the blood stream and travel to all parts of the body, controlling and governing through their catalytic action the various bodily processes. The pineal gland is located further forward than the pituitary and is conical in shape with two lobes. It is larger in a child than in an adult, and generally is of a greater size in women than in men. The function of the pineal gland is not understood by Western medicine; however, it contains structures very similar to those found in the human eyeball and secretes substances containing high levels of phosphorus salts. ESP activity has been observed in subjects with enlarged or highly active pineal glands. There are many indications that this gland is the "Third Eye" referred to so often in Yoga. The third stage of the Soma drops is mystical, and acts on both inner and outer levels. On the inner level the action is a subtle communion with the lineage of transcended teachers, departed Wisdom-spirits of those who have liberated themselves from this world, but who still act as subtle guardians and guides, influencing humanity through the unconscious. It is their "Wisdom drops" that one receives as flashes of insight and inspiration. On the outer level, mystic Soma drops are tears shed out of loving communion, ecstasy, and transcendence. Yogis of the distant past understood the subtle workings of their bodies and used psycho-cosmic symbolism to explain their insights to others. Meditations and practices were developed to consciously cause the Drops of Wisdom to flow on all levels simultaneously. Thus, the physical body can be helped to digest food and control vital functions, the glandular system can serve its regulating and motivating role, the emotional system can participate in mystic release, and the lineage of "ancestors, guardians, spirit guides, and fully realized beings" can pervade and influence the psyche. Several Tantric meditations were developed to stimulate the secretion of Drops of Wisdom from the Head Chakra. In most of these the inner fire of the Navel Chakra is first stimulated, usually through breathing techniques. As the psychic fire burns up all bodily impurities and Karmic obstacles, a pressure builds up, rises and"melts the moon" in the head. The Tantra description of one such process: "Imagine a dazzling white 'OM' in an inverted position, and upon that the first letter of the vowels, 'AH, 'from which a lunar disc emerges. The rising steam from the inner heat of the Navel Chakra causes the 'OM' and the lunar disc to drip nectar and emit rays of light. These one should conceive of as nourishing and transforming the whole psycho-system. "Yogic texts emphasize that one should try to stimulate the secretion of Drops of Wisdom and at the same time stop them from being wasted. In the region of the navel there is a burning sun, while at the base of the palate there is an effulgent moon, full of nectar. The downward-looking inner moon showers nectar, and the sun, with his upturned mouth, swallows it. In this connection those secret practices by which the nectar can be obtained and preserved should be known. If a person can retain the nectar of the moon, avoiding the open mouths of the inner sun, then the body ceases to be affected by physical decay and is outside the reaches of death. Furthermore, the semen of a Yogi whose body becomes filled with this nectar moves upward and gives rise to many miraculous powers. The secret practices referred to are several. The most straight forward is the Yoga head stand flow of lunar and solar currents in the body. Chakrasambhara gives the following Goraksashatakam declares: (shirsasana), which reverses the natural. Reverse postures stimulate the pineal and pituitary glands in the head. As a result, the whole body is invigorated. From a central Indian miniature painting, circa early nineteenth century. There is a curved duct from the inner moon to a hollow in the palatal region; this is known as the shankini nerve and leads to the upper lip. This is the curved duct through which the nectar or elixir of the moon can pass. It is described as being like a serpent with mouths at both ends; the mouth of this shankini nerve, through which the Soma pours down from the moon, is called the "tenth door" of the body. It is a great secret. GORAKSAVIJAYA

Compled from Ancient Sanscrit Texts